NASEM Infant Formula Shortage Report Analyzes Market Resilience,

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NASEM Releases Report on Infant Formula Market Challenges

by: Food and Drug Law at Keller and Heckman of Keller and Heckman LLP - The Daily Intake

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

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Last month, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a 401-page report which analyzed the 2022 infant formula shortage, highlighted the vulnerabilities in the infant formula market, and made recommendations to improve the market’s resilience and mitigate the impact of future crises.
The vulnerabilities in the infant formula market identified by the report can be broken down into 5 broad categories:
- Risk management planning. The report discusses failures in the market to implement effective risk management plans at both the facility level and at a sector-wide level.
- Market concentration. Although the report recognized problems of sales concentration at the state and national levels, it identified production line concentration as the most significant vulnerability to supply disruptions.
- Ability to support a speedy recovery. The report found that certain aspects of FDA’s lack of authority as well as regulatory requirements inhibiting the import of infant formula slowed restoration of production in times of crisis.
- Government management of adverse effects on consumers. Inadequate communication with the public, lack of coordination between government and industry, and challenges related to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) heightened adverse impacts.
- Protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding. The report concluded that continued breastfeeding reduced the proportion of families severely affected by the shortage of infant formula.
The report offers 14 detailed recommendations to address these challenges. The report follows a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report released earlier this year which addressed market factors contributing to the infant formula crisis.
We will continue to report on infant formula issues, including any government responses to the recommendations made in the report.